Barbra Streisand albums and songs sales

Academy Award, Emmy Award, Grammy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award. At 28, Barbra Streisand had already won them all, the first female artist ever to do so. She is also the only winner ever to have won an Oscar in both a music and an acting category. Nearly half a century, she continues to be successful. Wow!

At the start of the 60s, Barbra Streisand had brief appearances in a pair of unsuccessful soundtracks / cast recordings. It is in 1963, when her proper debut LP was released, that she broke the main audience. The success never really left her. Through movies and albums, she was inevitable among the American entertainment industry for decades to come.

Her trajectory followed the one of the music industry. Her early albums were issued only in English-speaking countries. Each of the soundtracks Funny Girl (1968), The Way We Were (1974) and A Star Is Born (1976) opened new markets to her. In 1980, the Barry Gibb-powered Guilty transformed Barbra Streisand into a global superstar.

As she started her career two decades before Madonna, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and Mariah Carey, she is rarely mentioned into female rankings. It doesn’t mean she has not sell enough to be featured on them!

As usual, I’ll be using the Commensurate Sales to Popularity Concept in order to relevantly gauge her results. This concept will not only bring you sales information for all Streisand‘s albums, physical and download singles, as well as audio and video streaming, but it will also determine their true popularity. If you are not yet familiar with the CSPC method, the next page explains it with a short video. I fully recommend watching the video before getting into the sales figures. Of course, if you are a regular visitor feel free to skip the video and get into the figures.

The Commensurate Sales to Popularity Concept (CSPC)

There are two ways to understand this revolutionary concept. The first is the Scribe video posted below. If you are unaware of the CSPC method, you will get the full idea within just a few minutes.

If you are a mathematical person, and want to know the full method as well as formulas, you can read the full introduction article.

Now let’s get into the artist’s sales figures in detail in order to apply this concept and define the act’s true popularity!

Barbra Streisand’s original albums sales

The Barbra Streisand Album (1963)

The Second Barbra Streisand Album (1963)

The Third Album (1964)

People (1964)

My Name Is Barbra (1965)

My Name Is Barbra, Two… (1965)

Color Me Barbra (1966)

Je m’appelle Barbra (1966)

Simply Streisand (1967)

• America
  • US – 525,000
  • Canada – 40,000
  • Argentina – N/A
  • Brazil – N/A
  • Mexico – N/A
• Asia – N/A
  • Japan – N/A
• Oceania
  • Australia – N/A
  • New Zealand – N/A
• Europe – N/A
  • UK – N/A
  • France – N/A
  • Germany – N/A
  • Italy – N/A
  • Spain – N/A
  • Sweden – N/A
  • Netherlands – N/A
  • Switzerland – N/A
  • Austria – N/A
  • Finland – N/A
• World – 640,000

A Christmas Album (1967)

Funny Girl (Soundtrack) (1968)

What About Today? (1969)

Hello, Dolly! (1969)

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970)

The Owl and the Pussycat (1970)

• America
  • US – 100,000
  • Canada – 10,000
  • Argentina – N/A
  • Brazil – N/A
  • Mexico – N/A
• Asia – N/A
  • Japan – N/A
• Oceania
  • Australia – N/A
  • New Zealand – N/A
• Europe – N/A
  • UK – N/A
  • France – N/A
  • Germany – N/A
  • Italy – N/A
  • Spain – N/A
  • Sweden – N/A
  • Netherlands – N/A
  • Switzerland – N/A
  • Austria – N/A
  • Finland – N/A
• World – 120,000

Stoney End (1971)

Barbra Joan Streisand (1971)

Barbra Streisand…and Other Musical Instruments (1971)

The Way We Were (1974)

• America
  • US – 2,150,000
  • Canada – 200,000
  • Argentina – N/A
  • Brazil – N/A
  • Mexico – N/A
• Asia – N/A
  • Japan – 100,000
• Oceania
  • Australia – 65,000
  • New Zealand – N/A
• Europe – N/A
  • UK – 125,000
  • France – N/A
  • Germany – N/A
  • Italy – N/A
  • Spain – N/A
  • Sweden – N/A
  • Netherlands – N/A
  • Switzerland – N/A
  • Austria – N/A
  • Finland – N/A
• World – 3,260,000

The Way We Were: Original Soundtrack Recording (1974)

• America
  • US – 550,000
  • Canada – 40,000
  • Argentina – N/A
  • Brazil – N/A
  • Mexico – N/A
• Asia – N/A
  • Japan – N/A
• Oceania
  • Australia – N/A
  • New Zealand – N/A
• Europe – N/A
  • UK – N/A
  • France – N/A
  • Germany – N/A
  • Italy – N/A
  • Spain – N/A
  • Sweden – N/A
  • Netherlands – N/A
  • Switzerland – N/A
  • Austria – N/A
  • Finland – N/A
• World – 770,000

ButterFly (1974)

Funny Lady (1975)

Lazy Afternoon (1975)

Classical Barbra (1976)

A Star Is Born (1976)

Superman (1977)

Songbird (1978)

• America
  • US – 1,375,000
  • Canada – 125,000
  • Argentina – N/A
  • Brazil – N/A
  • Mexico – N/A
• Asia – N/A
  • Japan – N/A
• Oceania
  • Australia – 40,000
  • New Zealand – 5,000
• Europe – 160,000
  • UK – 80,000
  • France – N/A
  • Germany – N/A
  • Italy – N/A
  • Spain – N/A
  • Sweden – N/A
  • Netherlands – N/A
  • Switzerland – N/A
  • Austria – N/A
  • Finland – N/A
• World – 1,790,000

The Main Event (1979)

• America
  • US – 600,000
  • Canada – 80,000
  • Argentina – N/A
  • Brazil – N/A
  • Mexico – N/A
• Asia – N/A
  • Japan – N/A
• Oceania
  • Australia – N/A
  • New Zealand – N/A
• Europe – N/A
  • UK – N/A
  • France – N/A
  • Germany – N/A
  • Italy – N/A
  • Spain – N/A
  • Sweden – N/A
  • Netherlands – N/A
  • Switzerland – N/A
  • Austria – N/A
  • Finland – N/A
• World – 840,000

Wet (1979)

Guilty (1980)

• America
  • US – 5,600,000
  • Canada – 350,000
  • Argentina – N/A
  • Brazil – N/A
  • Mexico – N/A
• Asia – 680,000
  • Japan – 300,000
• Oceania
  • Australia – 460,000
  • New Zealand – 80,000
• Europe – 5,400,000
  • UK – 1,150,000
  • France – 800,000
  • Germany – 700,000
  • Italy – 400,000
  • Spain – 300,000
  • Sweden – 220,000
  • Netherlands – 550,000
  • Switzerland – 100,000
  • Austria – 100,000
  • Finland – 58,000
• World – 13,140,000

Yentl (1983)

Emotion (1984)

The Broadway Album (1985)

Till I Loved You (1988)

Back to Broadway (1993)

The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)

Higher Ground (1997)

A Love Like Ours (1999)

Christmas Memories (2001)

The Movie Album (2003)

Guilty Pleasures (2005)

Love Is the Answer (2009)

What Matters Most (2011)

• America
  • US – 240,000
  • Canada – 15,000
  • Argentina – N/A
  • Brazil – N/A
  • Mexico – N/A
• Asia – N/A
  • Japan – N/A
• Oceania
  • Australia – 5,000
  • New Zealand – N/A
• Europe – 90,000
  • UK – 50,000
  • France – 2,500
  • Germany – 10,000
  • Italy – 3,000
  • Spain – 3,000
  • Sweden – 1,000
  • Netherlands – 5,000
  • Switzerland – 2,000
  • Austria – 1,000
  • Finland – N/A
• World – 370,000

Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway (2016)

• America
  • US – 340,000
  • Canada – 25,000
  • Argentina – N/A
  • Brazil – 3,500
  • Mexico – N/A
• Asia – N/A
  • Japan – N/A
• Oceania
  • Australia – 35,000
  • New Zealand – 6,000
• Europe – 100,000
  • UK – 57,500
  • France – 4,000
  • Germany – 15,000
  • Italy – 2,000
  • Spain – 3,000
  • Sweden – N/A
  • Netherlands – 2,500
  • Switzerland – 1,000
  • Austria – 2,000
  • Finland – N/A
• World – 520,000

Original Album Sales – Comments

Barbra Streisand has sold 91,37 million units of her studio albums over the curse of her career. She started very strong, selling a million with all her LPs during a singles-axed era.

She had difficult years in 1969-1970, but she quickly recovered and then remained relevant ever since. Expectedly, Guilty emerges as the top seller with more than 13 million units sold. A Star Is Born, A Christmas Album, The Broadway Album and Higher Ground are all over 5 million units.

A few more albums perform better than average. They include Soundtracks like Funny Girl, The Way We Were but also the likes Superman, Wet and Back to Broadway.

As for flops, there is hardly any. Out of 44 albums, only 4 sold under half a million units which in itself is incredible considering how extensive Streisand‘s catalog is.

One may say her sales aren’t that much global. It is true that the US is far and away her biggest market, accounting for 61,4 million of these sales, some 67% of the total. It is the way the industry was though, the same was true for most artists. Her debut album wasn’t even released in Asia, in Latin America or in continental Europe so obviously the US were going to represent the largest share of its sales! Once overseas markets started to be developed in mid-70s, Streisand did very well there. Guilty is the prime example since it sold only 43% of its units in the US.

1963 The Barbra Streisand Album – 1,080,000
1963 The Second Barbra Streisand Album – 1,130,000
1964 The Third Album – 1,070,000
1964 People – 1,260,000
1965 My Name Is Barbra – 1,130,000
1965 My Name Is Barbra, Two… – 1,470,000
1966 Color Me Barbra – 860,000
1966 Je m’appelle Barbra – 780,000
1967 Simply Streisand – 640,000
1967 A Christmas Album – 6,580,000
1968 Funny Girl (Soundtrack) – 2,960,000
1969 What About Today? – 430,000
1969 Hello, Dolly! – 760,000
1970 On a Clear Day You Can See Forever – 260,000
1970 The Owl and the Pussycat – 120,000
1971 Stoney End – 1,380,000
1971 Barbra Joan Streisand – 1,120,000
1971 Barbra Streisand…and Other Musical Instruments – 330,000
1974 The Way We Were – 3,260,000
1974 The Way We Were: Original Soundtrack Recording – 770,000
1974 ButterFly – 1,240,000
1975 Funny Lady – 1,260,000
1975 Lazy Afternoon – 940,000
1976 Classical Barbra – 730,000
1976 A Star Is Born – 8,190,000
1977 Superman – 2,720,000
1978 Songbird – 1,790,000
1979 The Main Event – 840,000
1979 Wet – 2,770,000
1980 Guilty – 13,140,000
1983 Yentl – 3,500,000
1984 Emotion – 1,960,000
1985 The Broadway Album – 5,350,000
1988 Till I Loved You – 2,550,000
1993 Back to Broadway – 2,850,000
1996 The Mirror Has Two Faces – 1,490,000
1997 Higher Ground – 5,090,000
1999 A Love Like Ours – 1,750,000
2001 Christmas Memories – 1,370,000
2003 The Movie Album – 1,150,000
2005 Guilty Pleasures – 1,460,000
2009 Love Is the Answer – 950,000
2011 What Matters Most – 370,000
2016 Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway – 520,000

Barbra Streisand’s physical singles sales

As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 3 ratio between one album and one physical single.

1963-69

Ironically, during the singles golden age, Streisand has sold mostly albums. Her only hit as a single was People from 1964, it sold over a million units. This was her only Top 30 hit in the US of the decade, it went as high as #5. At half a million sales comes Second Hand Rose, a hit in the UK and in the Netherlands. The remaining songs are all very moderate sellers.

The Barbra Streisand Album (1963) – 15,000 equivalent albums

Happy Days Are Here Again – 30,000
Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf – 20,000

The Second Barbra Streisand Album (1963) – 12,000 equivalent albums

My Coloring Book – 30,000
Love, Come Back to Me – 10,000

The Third Album (1964) – 3,000 equivalent albums

Barbra Streisand – 10,000

People (1964) – 375,000 equivalent albums

People – 1,250,000

My Name Is Barbra (1965) – 114,000 equivalent albums

Why Did I Choose You? – 180,000
My Man – 200,000

My Name Is Barbra, Two… (1965) – 222,000 equivalent albums

He Touched Me – 240,000
Second Hand Rose – 500,000

Color Me Barbra (1966) – 42,000 equivalent albums

The Minute Waltz – 10,000
Non C’est Rien – 10,000
Where Am I Going? – 120,000

Je m’appelle Barbra (1966) – 60,000 equivalent albums

Free Again – 200,000

Simply Streisand (1967) – ,000 equivalent albums

Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?) – 120,000
Stout-Hearted Men – 30,000

A Christmas Album (1967) – 126,000 equivalent albums

Silent Night / Ave Maria – 240,000
My Favorite Things / The Christmas Song – 30,000
White Christmas / Jingle Bells – 140,000
The Lord’s Prayer / I Wonder As I Wander – 10,000

Funny Girl (Soundtrack) (1968) – 120,000 equivalent albums

My Man / Don’t Rain On My Parade – 50,000
Funny Girl – 350,000

What About Today? (1969) – 6,000 equivalent albums

Honey Pie – 10,000
Frank Mills / Punky’s Dilemma – 10,000

Hello, Dolly! (1969) – 18,000 equivalent albums

Before The Parade Passes By – 60,000

1970-76

Out of the 11 albums released from 1970 to 1976, 5 have got no single issued at all. Streisand still achieved 2 million-sellers. The first one is Stoney End from 1971, a #6 hit in the US. Then The Way We Were sold a huge 1,85 million copies. It was her first #1 smash in the US, topping charts in Canada too.

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970) – 0 equivalent albums

No single released

The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) – 0 equivalent albums

No single released

Stoney End (1971) – 441,000 equivalent albums

Hands Off the Man (Flim Flam Man) – 160,000
Stoney End – 1,090,000
Time and Love – 220,000

Barbra Joan Streisand (1971) – 162,000 equivalent albums

Where You Lead – 290,000
Space Captain – 60,000
Mother – 190,000

Barbra Streisand…and Other Musical Instruments (1971) – 0 equivalent albums

No single released

The Way We Were (1974) – 633,000 equivalent albums

The Best Thing You’ve Ever Done – 70,000
The Way We Were – 1,850,000
All in Love Is Fair – 170,000
What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life – 20,000

The Way We Were: Original Soundtrack Recording (1974) – 0 equivalent albums

No single released

ButterFly (1974) – 12,000 equivalent albums

Guava Jelly – 20,000
Jubilation – 20,000

Funny Lady (1975) – 9,000 equivalent albums

How Lucky Can You Get – 30,000

Lazy Afternoon (1975) – 21,000 equivalent albums

My Father’s Song – 50,000
Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over) – 20,000

Classical Barbra (1976) – 0 equivalent albums

No single released

1976-80

During the second half of the 70s, Barbra Streisand developed the ability to score out-of-the-blue smashes. She wasn’t a consistent singles seller at all, but someway she managed to get at least one million seller in every era from 1976 to 1980.

Evergreen sold nearly 3 million units. It was #1 for 3 weeks in the US, #1 too in Canada and Top 5 in Australia and the UK. You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, a duet with Neil Diamond, was #1 in the US too. It sold over 2 million units, just like the duet with Donna Summer, No More Tears (Enough Is Enough).

These impressive figures fall short of equaling the success of the Guilty era. The title track, a duet with Barry Gibb, sold 1,5 million units. Its blockbuster though is the cult single Woman In Love. The song was #1 in every relevant market, selling a whopping 6,26 million units in the process.

A Star Is Born (1976) – 879,000 equivalent albums

Evergreen – 2,930,000

Superman (1977) – 318,000 equivalent albums

Superman – 50,000
My Heart Belongs to Me – 1,010,000

Songbird (1978) – 816,000 equivalent albums

You Don’t Bring Me Flowers – 2,270,000
Songbird – 450,000

The Main Event (1979) – 336,000 equivalent albums

The Main Event/Fight – 1,120,000

Wet (1979) – 861,000 equivalent albums

No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) – 2,570,000
Kiss Me in the Rain – 280,000
Ain’t Gonna Cry Tonight – 10,000
Splish Splash – 10,000

Guilty (1980) – 2,559,000 equivalent albums

Guilty – 1,550,000
Woman in Love – 6,260,000
Promises – 180,000
What Kind of Fool – 520,000
Life Story – 10,000
The Love Inside – 10,000

1983-99

Following Guilty, Streisand went back to more adult contemporary material. She hasn’t got a proper hit again until 1996’s single I Finally Found Someone which became her first Top 10 hit in 15 years.

Tell Him on its side became her first million seller in more than 15 years too. It did so in spite of not being physically released in the US, selling most of its units in the UK and in France.

Yentl (1983) – 135,000 equivalent albums

Papa, Can You Hear Me? – 10,000
The Way He Makes Me Feel – 430,000
No Matter What Happens – 10,000

Emotion (1984) – 177,000 equivalent albums

Emotion – 90,000
Make No Mistake, He’s Mine – 230,000
Left in the Dark – 270,000

The Broadway Album (1985) – 84,000 equivalent albums

Send In the Clowns – 30,000
Somewhere – 250,000

Till I Loved You (1988) – 219,000 equivalent albums

Till I Loved You – 660,000
All I Ask of You – 60,000
What Were We Thinking Of – 10,000

Back to Broadway (1993) – 33,000 equivalent albums

The Music of the Night – 20,000
As If We Never Said Goodbye – 50,000
With One Look – 40,000

The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) – 255,000 equivalent albums

I Finally Found Someone – 850,000

Higher Ground (1997) – 342,000 equivalent albums

Tell Him – 1,140,000

A Love Like Ours (1999) – 57,000 equivalent albums

I’ve Dreamed of You – 140,000
If You Ever Leave Me – 50,000

2001 onwards and orphan songs

From 2001, Streisand barely released physical singles. Since the format was abandoned in the US by then it isn’t surprising.

Through the years, there has been several hits coming out from different compilations or live albums. The biggest seller of all is Memory at nearly 1,2 million, mostly thanks to its 700,000 sales in France.

All in all, the diva sold 35,25 million physical singles during her career.

Christmas Memories (2001) – 0 equivalent albums

No single released

The Movie Album (2003) – 0 equivalent albums

No single released

Guilty Pleasures (2005) – 6,000 equivalent albums

Stranger in a Strange Land – 10,000
Night of My Life – 5,000
Come Tomorrow – 5,000

Love Is the Answer (2009) – 0 equivalent albums

No single released

What Matters Most (2011) – 0 equivalent albums

No single released

Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway (2016) – 0 equivalent albums

No single released

Orphan – 1,063,000 equivalent albums

Sam, You Made The Pants Too Long – 90,000
Our Corner of the Night – 150,000
Sweet Inspiration / Where You Lead – 320,000
Sing / Make Your Own Kind of Music – 130,000
Didn’t We – 210,000
Prisoner – 510,000
Comin’ In and Out of Your Life – 850,000
Memory – 1,180,000
We’re Not Makin’ Love Anymore – 40,000
Someone That I Used to Love – 3,000
Places That Belong to You – 60,000

Barbra Streisand’s digital singles sales

As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 1,5 ratio between one album and one digital single.

With a dreadful total of 3,68 million digital sales, Barbra Streisand performs incredibly poorly there. While it comes to no surprise, the magnitude of these horrible results is still an issue. Even her stand-out classics like The Way We Were and Woman In Love fail to reach 1 million sales combined!

The Barbra Streisand Album (1963) – 5,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 30,000

The Second Barbra Streisand Album (1963) – 3,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 20,000

The Third Album (1964) – 12,000 equivalent albums

It Had to Be You – 80,000

People (1964) – 10,000 equivalent albums

People – 60,000
Remaining tracks – 5,000

My Name Is Barbra (1965) – 6,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 40,000

My Name Is Barbra, Two… (1965) – 3,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 20,000

Color Me Barbra (1966) – 1,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – under 10,000

Je m’appelle Barbra (1966) – 1,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – under 10,000

Simply Streisand (1967) – 1,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – under 10,000

A Christmas Album (1967) – 10,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 65,000

Funny Girl (Soundtrack) (1968) – 20,000 equivalent albums

Don’t Rain On My Parade – 100,000
Remaining tracks – 30,000

What About Today? (1969) – 1,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – under 10,000

Hello, Dolly! (1969) – 7,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 45,000

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970) – 1,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – under 10,000

The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) – 0 equivalent albums

All tracks – 0

Stoney End (1971) – 2,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 15,000

Barbra Joan Streisand (1971) – 3,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 20,000

Barbra Streisand…and Other Musical Instruments (1971) – 0 equivalent albums

All tracks – 0

The Way We Were (1974) – 51,000 equivalent albums

The Way We Were – 340,000
Remaining tracks – 0

The Way We Were: Original Soundtrack Recording (1974) – 1,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – under 10,000

ButterFly (1974) – 2,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 15,000

Funny Lady (1975) – 0 equivalent albums

All tracks – 0

Lazy Afternoon (1975) – 1,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – under 10,000

Classical Barbra (1976) – 0 equivalent albums

All tracks – 0

A Star Is Born (1976) – 27,000 equivalent albums

Evergreen – 150,000
Remaining tracks – 30,000

Superman (1977) – 7,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 45,000

Songbird (1978) – 15,000 equivalent albums

You Don’t Bring Me Flowers – 90,000
Remaining tracks – 10,000

The Main Event (1979) – 1,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – under 10,000

Wet (1979) – 22,000 equivalent albums

No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) – 125,000
Remaining tracks – 20,000

Guilty (1980) – 120,000 equivalent albums

Guilty – 150,000
Woman in Love – 550,000
What Kind of Fool – 70,000
Remaining tracks – 30,000

Yentl (1983) – 6,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 40,000

Emotion (1984) – 1,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – under 10,000

The Broadway Album (1985) – 36,000 equivalent albums

Send In the Clowns – 100,000
Somewhere – 125,000
Remaining tracks – 15,000

Till I Loved You (1988) – 5,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 35,000

Back to Broadway (1993) – 6,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 40,000

The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) – 27,000 equivalent albums

I Finally Found Someone – 180,000
Remaining tracks – 0

Higher Ground (1997) – 45,000 equivalent albums

Tell Him – 300,000
Remaining tracks – 0

A Love Like Ours (1999) – 3,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 20,000

Christmas Memories (2001) – 6,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 40,000

The Movie Album (2003) – 4,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 25,000

Guilty Pleasures (2005) – 10,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 65,000

Love Is the Answer (2009) – 12,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 80,000

What Matters Most (2011) – 3,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 20,000

Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway (2016) – 1,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – under 10,000

Orphan – 54,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 360,000

Barbra Streisand’s streaming sales

Streaming is made up of two families – audio and video. Our CSPC methodology now includes both to better reflect the real popularity of each track. The main source of data for each avenue is respectively Spotify and YouTube. As detailed in the Fixing Log article, Spotify represents 132 million of the 212 million users of streaming platforms, while YouTube is pretty much the only video platform generating some revenue for the industry. Below is the equivalence set on the aforementioned article:

Audio Stream – 1500 plays equal 1 album unit
Video Stream – 11,750 views equal 1 album unit

Equivalent Albums Sales (EAS) = 212/132 * Spotify streams / 1500 + YouTube views / 11750

Streaming Part 1

Streaming Part 2

Streaming Part 3

Streaming Part 4

Streaming Part 5

Streaming Part 6

Streaming Part 7

Streaming Part 8

Streaming Part 9

Streaming Part 10

Streaming – Summary

Please note that all Spotify and YouTube numbers are expressed in millions. I added this summary table since numbers overall are so low that it was useless to go into in-depth comments for each era. This table lists her Top 20 streaming songs in Stream Equivalent Album (SEA).

At nearly 40,000 units is Woman In Love. The song is well supported by YouTube were it stands at 222 million views as per YouTube Insights. This tool was used since Barbra Streisand‘s fans-uploaded videos were recently removed to make space for her new official Vevo channel. On Spotify, the song is just under 20 million streams, a fairly weak figure for a ground breaking #1 single that remained her signature song.

Numbers get worse and worse as we continue checking her songs. The only interesting part of this format is to know which songs remain the most popular. After Woman In Love, Tell Him is the runner up, no doubt helped by the presence of Celine Dion. Close behind are The Way We Were, I Finally Found Someone, Guilty and Memory.

Streisand‘s trio of huge US #1 hits from late 70s all fail to get into her current Top 6. Evergreen, No More Tears and You Don’t Bring Me Flowers chart at #7, #8 and #9, respectively.

Barbra Streisand’s full length related record sales

It sounds fairly logical to add together weighted sales of one era – studio album, physical singles, downloads, streams – to get the full picture of an album’s popularity. For older releases though, they also generate sales of various live, music videos and compilation albums.

All those packaging-only records do not create value, they exploit the value originating from the parent studio album of each of its tracks instead. Inevitably, when such compilations are issued, this downgrades catalog sales of the original LP. Thus, to perfectly gauge the worth of these releases, we need to re-assign sales proportionally to its contribution of all the compilations which feature its songs. The following table explains this method.

How to understand this table? If you check this example of Greatest Hits, those figures mean it sold 3,700,000 units worldwide. The second statistics column means all versions of all the songs included on this package add for 16,275 equivalent album sales from streams of all types.

The second part at the right of the table shows how many streams are coming from each original album plus the share it represents on the overall package streams. Thus, streaming figures tell us Funny Girl songs are responsible for 43% of the Greatest Hits tracklist attractiveness, which means it generated 1,595,000 of its 3,700,000 album sales. We will now apply this concept to all her compilations, live albums, music videos and EPs.

Major Compilations – without Woman In Love

The discography of Streisand is atypical for one reason: her top selling compilations do not include her biggest hit. Her Top 2 sellers are Greatest Hits Vol 2 which pre-dates the era Guilty, thus excluding Woman In Love, and Memories, a compilation released just after Guilty as a complementary item rather than a replacement item, thus also excluding the 1980 global #1 song.

It raises one big question, which songs, and by extension which studio albums, provided their appeal?

Packages which cover her 60s songs (Greatest Hits and Live at the Forum) are by both People and Funny Girl. Greatest Hits Vol 2, Memories and its UK-version Love Songs cover her 70s material. They are powered by songs from most 1974-1979 albums since almost all of them included million selling singles. The strongest of them is The Way We Were which was indeed a huge catalog seller until 1977, before being cannibalized by the best of set from 1978.

Major Compilations post-82 – without Woman In Love still!

Here comes a big surprise! Although Woman In Love was already released, most of her major selling compilation-like albums excluded it. How is this possible?

The singer made no secret that she didn’t liked the song as she disagrees with its lyrics. This pushed her to avoid singing it live. That’s why the song isn’t part of live packages One Voice and The Concert. Her duets-themed compilations also excluded it since the song is a solo track.

The album Guilty still provides a nice help to these albums thanks to its title track. Then, The Way We Were appears to be always strongest among the discography of the artist. We are starting to wonder what’s her real big era!

Major Compilations – with Woman In Love

While major compilations without Woman In Love managed to sell 33 million units collectively, the ones with this song stand at less than 8 million. They are A Collection…, a best of from 1989 which can almost be regarded as a reissue of Guilty since it exploits mostly its songs. The second one is The Essential, the first true career-spanning compilation, the first one which puts together songs like The Way We Were, Evergreen and Woman In Love, although it excludes Guilty.

The following pages will include sales of all her full length records which haven’t been posted so far, although with no comments as these packages follow the same patterns as the ones presented here.

Compilations – Part 4

Compilations – Part 5

Compilations – Part 6

Compilations – Part 7

Compilations – Part 8

Compilations – Part 9

Compilations – Part 10

Compilations – Part 11

Compilations – Part 12

Compilations – Part 13

Full Length related records Sales – Summary

Here is the most underestimated indicator of an album’s success – the amount of compilation sales of all kinds it generated. Due to the dependency of sales of the original studio albums on these releases, they are a key piece of the jigsaw.

The Way We Were isn’t among Barbra Streisand‘s Top 5 selling studio albums. Its run was stopped too early with the competitive compilation Greatest Hits Vol 2. The album is huge though as it is responsible for sales of more than 10 million best of and live records!

Naturally, Guilty, A Star Is Born, Songbird, People and Funny Girl all boosted sales of plenty of compilations too. While some of them aren’t strong sellers in pure album sales, they are highly valuable additions to Streisand‘s catalog.

BONUS: Compilation Albums Sales

Greatest Hits (1970)

• America
  • US – 2,600,000
  • Canada – 300,000
  • Argentina – N/A
  • Brazil – N/A
  • Mexico – N/A
• Asia – N/A
  • Japan – N/A
• Oceania
  • Australia – 60,000
  • New Zealand – N/A
• Europe – N/A
  • UK – 200,000
  • France – N/A
  • Germany – N/A
  • Italy – N/A
  • Spain – N/A
  • Sweden – N/A
  • Netherlands – N/A
  • Switzerland – N/A
  • Austria – N/A
  • Finland – N/A
• World – 3,700,000

Greatest Hits Vol 2 (1978)

Memories (1981)

One Voice (1987)

• America
  • US – 1,900,000
  • Canada – 150,000
  • Argentina – N/A
  • Brazil – N/A
  • Mexico – N/A
• Asia – 50,000
  • Japan – 25,000
• Oceania
  • Australia – 65,000
  • New Zealand – 20,000
• Europe – 620,000
  • UK – 125,000
  • France – N/A
  • Germany – 100,000
  • Italy – N/A
  • Spain – 30,000
  • Sweden – 20,000
  • Netherlands – 140,000
  • Switzerland – N/A
  • Austria – N/A
  • Finland – N/A
• World – 2,860,000

A Collection – Greatest Hits And More (1989)

The Concert (1994)

The Essential (2002)

Partners (2014)

• America
  • US – 1,025,000
  • Canada – 80,000
  • Argentina – N/A
  • Brazil – 7,000
  • Mexico – N/A
• Asia – N/A
  • Japan – N/A
• Oceania
  • Australia – 75,000
  • New Zealand – 12,500
• Europe – 550,000
  • UK – 385,000
  • France – 7,500
  • Germany – 60,000
  • Italy – 4,000
  • Spain – 6,000
  • Sweden – N/A
  • Netherlands – 25,000
  • Switzerland – 2,500
  • Austria – 5,000
  • Finland – N/A
• World – 1,800,000

BONUS: Total Album (all types) Sales per Country

• America
  • US – 88,850,000
  • Canada – 7,240,000
  • Argentina – N/A
  • Brazil – N/A
  • Mexico – N/A
• Asia – 2,910,00
  • Japan – 1,155,000
• Oceania
  • Australia – 3,380,000
  • New Zealand – 670,000
• Europe – 27,300,000
  • UK – 10,460,000
  • France – 3,460,000
  • Germany – 2,405,000
  • Italy – 1,250,000
  • Spain – 1,480,000
  • Sweden – 780,000
  • Netherlands – 2,205,000
  • Switzerland – 405,000
  • Austria – 315,000
  • Finland – 275,000
• World – 138,610,000

Please note that some of the countries totals may be slightly incomplete when the figure is N/A for minor releases. Countries with too much missing information to be precise enough are listed as N/A. Also, please notice that 4,4 million sales have been tallied into global sales but separately from European and Asian totals.

Barbra Streisand Career CSPC Results

So, after checking all the figures, how many overall equivalent album sales has each album by Barbra Streisand achieved? Well, at this point we hardly need to add up all of the figures defined in this article!

In the following results table, all categories display figures in equivalent album sales. If different, pure sales are listed between parentheses.

'Av.' stands for Average, 'LD' for Last Day.

As a reminder:

• Studio Album: sales of the original album
• Other Releases: sales of compilations generated thanks to the album
• Physical Singles: sales of physical singles from the album (ratio 3/10)
• Download Singles: sales of digital singles from the album (ratio 1,5/10)
• Streaming: equivalent album sales of all the album tracks (ratio 1/1500 for Audio stream and 1/6750 for Video stream)

Artist career totals

See where the artist ranks among remaining singers

Guilty is Streisand’s most successful era to date with 23 million equivalent album sales generated in total. This result was expected, but what follows it wasn’t.

Both A Star Is Born and The Way We Were are around 15 million units, both stunning totals. It is especially impressive for the latter which sold a relatively low 3,26 million pure album units.

This strong podium is followed by 7 albums with a popularity very similar. In descending order albums ranking from #4 to #10 among the artist’s catalog are The Broadway Album, Songbird, A Christmas Album, Funny Girl, Higher Ground, Wet and People. They all moved from 5 to 7 million equivalent album sales. With 10, Barbra Streisand is the second female singer with the most 5 million-plus units eras, topped only by Madonna at 13. These eras span a record-breaking 33 years.

In total, Streisand has 30 albums with 1 million equivalent album sales or more and 9 additional ones between 500,000 and 1 million units. A remarkable career.

Overall, she is up to 152,5 million equivalent albums sales, a superb figure that puts her undoubtedly among the Top 5 most successful female vocalists of all-time.

The following sections list her most successful songs as well as her records and achievements.

As usual, feel free to comment and / or ask a question!

Sources: IFPI, Spotify, YouTube, Chartmasters.org.

BIGGEST TRACKS – Barbra Streisand

The list of most successful songs is compiled in album equivalent sales generated by each of them. It includes the song’s own physical singles sales with a 0,3 weighting, its download and streaming sales, and with appropriate weighting too, plus its share among sales of all albums on which it is featured.

1. 1974 – Barbra Streisand – The Way We Were [The Way We Were] – 14,230,000
2. 1980 – Barbra Streisand – Woman in Love [Guilty] – 13,440,000
3. 1976 – Barbra Streisand – Evergreen [A Star Is Born] – 11,890,000
4. 1978 – Barbra Streisand – You Don’t Bring Me Flowers [Songbird] – 6,450,000
5. 1980 – Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb – Guilty [Guilty] – 6,040,000
6. 1997 – Barbra Streisand & Céline Dion – Tell Him [Higher Ground] – 5,830,000
7. 1964 – Barbra Streisand – People [People] – 5,180,000
8. 1964 – Barbra Streisand – Don’t Rain on My Parade [Funny Girl (Soundtrack)] – 5,160,000
9. 1979 – Barbra Streisand & Donna Summer – No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) [Wet] – 4,790,000
10. 1985 – Barbra Streisand – Somewhere [The Broadway Album] – 4,440,000
11. 1981 – Barbra Streisand – Memory [Memories] – 3,620,000
12. 1977 – Barbra Streisand – New York State of Mind [Superman] – 2,590,000
13. 1996 – Bryan Adams & Barbra Streisand – I Finally Found Someone [The Mirror Has Two Faces] – 2,520,000
14. 1965 – Barbra Streisand – My Man [My Name Is Barbra] – 2,250,000
15. 1980 – Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb – What Kind of Fool [Guilty] – 2,120,000
16. 1983 – Barbra Streisand – Papa, Can You Hear Me? [Yentl] – 1,630,000
17. 1985 – Barbra Streisand – Send In the Clowns [The Broadway Album] – 1,610,000
18. 1967 – Barbra Streisand – O Little Town of Bethlehem [A Christmas Album] – 1,560,000
19. 1971 – Barbra Streisand – Stoney End [Stoney End] – 1,550,000
20. 1988 – Don Johnson & Barbra Streisand – Till I Loved You [Till I Loved You] – 1,520,000
21. 1967 – Barbra Streisand – Jingle Bells? [A Christmas Album] – 1,410,000
22. 1976 – Barbra Streisand – Lost Inside of You [A Star Is Born] – 1,360,000
23. 1964 – Barbra Streisand – It Had to Be You [The Third Album] – 1,260,000
24. 1979 – Barbra Streisand – The Main Event/Fight [The Main Event] – 1,200,000
24. 1984 – Kim Carnes & Barbra Streisand – Make No Mistake, He’s Mine [Emotion] – 1,200,000

Records & Achievements

• At 152,498,000 equivalent album sales, Barbra Streisand is among the 5 most successful female artists ever. She is #1 among those who debuted before 1980.
• At 88,850,000 albums sold, Barbra Streisand is the highest selling female artist ever in the US.
• Barbra Streisand is the only artist ever to top the US Billboard Album Chart in 6 distinct decades (1960s through the 2010s).
• At 53 years, Barbra Streisand has the widest span of Top 10 albums in the US, from 1963 to 2016.
• At 52 years, Barbra Streisand has the widest span of #1 albums in the US, from 1964 to 2016.
• People was the only female studio album to top the US Billboard Album Chart from 1956 to 1970.
• At 51, Barbra Streisand has the most certified albums ever in the US among female artists. She is second overall.
• At 1,3 million, Woman In Love is one of the highest selling international female single of all-time in France.
• At 14,774,000 equivalent album sales, The Way We Were is the most successful album from 1974.
• At 22,973,000 equivalent album sales, Guilty is the 3rd most successful album from 1980.
• At 14,230,000 equivalent album sales, The Way We Were is the most successful song from 1974.

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